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The global fight against child labor might be
better served by focusing less on existing laws and more on implementation
and enforcement

Elevator pitch

Regulation of the minimum age of employment is
the dominant tool used to combat child labor globally. If enforced, these
regulations can change the types of work in which children participate, but
minimum age regulations are not a useful tool to promote education. Despite
their nearly universal adoption, recent research for 59 developing countries
finds little evidence that these regulations influence child time allocation
in a meaningful way. Going forward, coordinating compulsory schooling laws
and minimum age of employment regulations may help maximize the joint
influence of these regulations on child time allocation, but these
regulations should not be the focus of the global fight against child
labor.

Key findings

Pros

If enforced, minimum age regulation
can be a useful tool to change how children work.

Regulation is strongest when
coordinated with compulsory schooling laws.

Reductions in child labor can be
accomplished with minimal impact on family living standards.

Coerced and forced child laborers,
although a small share of working children, may benefit the most
from minimum age of employment laws.

Minimum age regulation may establish
new societal norms over time and may provide tools for the legal
system to go after gross violators.

Cons

Minimum age regulation is not a tool
to promote education.

Minimum age regulation can separate
children from their parents in the labor market, leaving
children more vulnerable.

Most child laborers are involved in
activities that are outside the scope of minimum age
regulation.

There is little evidence that minimum
age regulations are being enforced.

The adoption of minimum age
regulation appears to be motivated by global political
concerns.

Author's main message

Minimum age regulations have the potential to
reduce child labor. As currently implemented, however, they do not appear to
substantively influence child employment and may lessen political pressure
for more meaningful reforms. If enforced, minimum age regulations can be a
useful tool to change how children work, but there is little evidence of
widespread enforcement. Minimum age regulations are not a tool to promote
schooling.